Dead At Daybreak by Deon Meyer

Without a doubt, imagination is key to reading but there are just some scenes which need a little bit of help conjuring up so here are some photos taken by Meyer in conjunction with this book (courtesy of his website) which you have just got to check out:  http://www.deonmeyer.com/xtra/xtra_dad.html

I read this story both as a book and an audio.  The audio is narrated by talented Saul Reichlin who reads with a well-honed newsreader presenter voice, smooth and oddly sensual, not unlike a bass cello.  His interpretation is perfect, for want of a better word, with a capital P.  He effortlessly guides the listener through all kinds of emotions - fear, joy, lust, anger, heartbreak, humour.  The many different accents are so convincing that it felt like there were a few narrators talking it out instead of one man.  Even when he narrates a woman's part, he does not identify it with a put-on high-pitched voice which almost always sounds false and grating.  Instead, he does not miss a beat and adjusts his voice accordingly to each change of scenes.  I do not listen to audios much but I must say this has been the BEST audio interpretation I have ever listened to and would gladly look out for Saul Reichlin's voice in the future.  If you want to know more about Sam Reichlin, click on his website at http://www.saulreichlin.biz/index.htm

Personally and honestly, I do not think anyone writes like Deon Meyer anymore.  What a fine writer.  What talent.  What pure poetry.  I love his language.  I love the slow pace of his writing.  I love his writing.  Pure and simple.  He creates a tone that mimics both the turbulence of the old South Africa and the new changes in modern South Africa.  He writes very effectively of a flawed but normal guy who is trying to come to terms with his personal and professional life with soul-searching ruminations, recountings of past experiences from his childhood right through to the present and with moving on with life as such, being a survivor.  In what has been described as a "risky move", the plot is cleverly divided into two events which connect chronogically using 1st and 3rd person points of view by the same character (protagonist and ex-cop Zatopek van Heerden).  I would say this book has the right combination of a convincing thriller and personal redemption.  Admirably, the female characters and their influences are strongly portrayed.  The bad news is that the central premise of a one week deadline is perhaps a touch unreal.

Dead At Daybreak has been shortlisted for a number of awards and won a number of accolades, chief among them French Le prix Mystère de la critique 2004.  I highly recommend this one because it is a deserved winner!

Opening line in the book: He woke abruptly out of an alcohol-sodden sleep, the pain in his ribs his first conscious sensation.

What is Dead At Daybreak about?  (taken from the blurb):

The past is never dead.  An antiques dealer is burned with a blowtorch, then killed, execution-style - a single shot to the back of the head with an M16.  The contents of the safe are missing and the only clues are a scrap of blank paper and the unusual weapon used, a gun that's generally the preferred choice of mercenaries, not burglars.  Now ex-cop Zatopek 'Zed' van Heerden has seven days in which to solve the case - a task made even harder when he discovers that up to a few years ago there is no record that the victim even existed...
Dead At Daybreak is a brilliant and provocative South African thriller set in a damaged society coming to terms with new freedoms - and new dangers.

Warning:  This book contains more than anyone's fair share of the proverbial (bleep) word.  Normally, it adds nothing to the dialogue but in this case, it adds ambience and a certain depth to the raw emotions in the story.

Rating: 6/5 (Outstanding writing/translation/narrating)